Charles V. Bush, 72, who became the first African-American to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court page in 1954 — the same year the court desegregated public schools — and later was one of the first black graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy, died Nov. 5 at his home in Lolo, Mont.

His death, from colon cancer, was confirmed by his wife, Bettina Bush.

Bush grew up in segregated Washington and spent part of his childhood living in a dormitory at Howard University, where his father was an educational director. The younger Bush was 14 when he was named a Supreme Court page in July 1954.

His appointment drew national attention, and not only because Bush was the first black to hold that position.

In a way, The New York Times reported at the time, his admission to the Capitol Page School represented the first implementation of Brown vs. Board of Education. In that ruling, handed down a few months earlier, the Supreme Court declared segregated public schools unconstitutional. The page school was run by the D.C. school system.

Clad in knickers, as was the custom for pages at the time, Bush worked in the anteroom of Chief Justice Earl Warren, who had sought the appointment of an African-American.

Along with the three other pages, Bush sat behind the high court’s bench during oral arguments and delivered books and other supplies when the justices needed them. The pages earned $2,000 for nine months of work, the Times reported.

At the Air Force Academy, Bush joined the debate and rugby teams and served as a squadron commander before graduating in 1963. Despite his prominence on campus, he said he faced discrimination. During a dance at Fort Benning, Ga., he recalled in a 2011 speech at his alma mater, he and two other African-American cadets were asked not to attend the festivities.

Bush spoke Russian and Vietnamese and served in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968, overseeing six intelligence teams during the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Khe Sanh.

He remained in the Air Force until 1970, attaining the rank of captain. He left the service in part because he thought he had been passed over for a promotion because of his race, said his son, Chip Bush.

Charles Vernon Bush was born Dec. 17, 1939, in Tallahassee, Fla., and moved to Washington as a child.

Bush received a master’s degree in international relations from Georgetown University in 1964 and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University in 1972.

In an interview with Washingtonian magazine, Bush once reflected on the significance of his service as a page.

“I was thrust not only into a white school but also into a white power structure at the court,” he said. “Pages are next to the law clerks on the totem pole, so we were treated with a great deal of respect. … Suddenly folks who were accustomed to treating black people one way had to change. … It was very clear that no one wanted to cross the chief justice on that score.”

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